


Yearning Too Late

by thatcrazywriterley



Series: The Too Late Tales [33]
Category: AEW, All Elite Wrestling, Being The Elite (Web Series), Young Bucks-Fandom
Genre: First Baby, Girl Dads, Like, Multi, Polyamory, Slice of Life, brothers share a wife, if you squint really really really hard you MIGHT see a bit of a breeding kink kinda, seriously... they are so wonderful as dads, the bucks on being first time dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:15:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26487787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatcrazywriterley/pseuds/thatcrazywriterley
Summary: A slice of life in the Jackson household when Mattie is about 9 months old.
Relationships: Matt Jackson/Reader, Matt Jackson/Reader/Nick Jackson, Nick Jackson/Reader
Series: The Too Late Tales [33]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695274
Kudos: 7





	Yearning Too Late

_(GIF owned by audreyhrns on Tumblr)_

The wailing had stopped. Thank God. After months of colic, midnight diaper changes, and feedings every three hours, Mattie—who had quickly been nicknamed Tea by Matt and Nick—was sleeping through the night. The exhaustion that her birth and those first wild weeks home had wrought on me had not been visited upon her fathers. Matt and Nick were on a hair trigger when it came to their daughter. Her slightest whimper or expression of unhappiness sent them into a tailspin trying to make her happy again.

I loved watching my husbands with our daughter. Each time I watched them gather her up in their arms and coo over her, my heart melted. After a few hours, I’d feel like the Grinch after Christmas—with my heart three sizes too big. Those early days after we brought her home showed me more to love about them.

Matt was desperately protective of her. When she learned to crawl, Matt panicked whenever she got out of his sight. He would follow after her, snatching her by the back of her onesie or carefully redirecting her with his foot if she got too close to tables or “dangerous” stuff. Of course, to Matt, _everything_ that wasn’t round, a foot high, squishy, or soft was dangerous.

Nick on the other hand was dedicated to making her smile and laugh. He popped around corners, played peek-a-boo with towels, teddy bears, and his hands, chased her around on his hands and knees, blew raspberries on her belly and cheeks, and nibbled on her fingers and toes. Nick hovered over her crib first thing in the morning making faces—all wide eyes and open mouth grins—until she giggled.

Mattie, for her part, was enamored with them as well. I couldn’t count how many times I’d walked into the nursery or the living room in one of the houses and found Matt stretched out on a sofa or the floor, Mattie snuggled sound asleep against his chest. More often than not, so was Matt. Nor could I keep track of how often I would come upon Nick sitting with our daughter on his lap, tickling and making faces at her until she squealed with laughter.

I fell in love with my husbands over and over again in those first months of our daughter’s life. Mattie was the light of their lives, just as she was mine. She grew into thick, dark hair and wide blue eyes that mixed the things I loved the most about my husbands. When she smiled, her cheeks rounded, and I could see Matt in her face. When she was angry or frustrated, she scrunched her nose and all I saw was Nick. Each time I thought of the gift they’d given me in our life together, in _our_ daughter, I felt my heart squeeze with adoration.

She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and I loved her desperately. But I don’t think—no matter how deeply rooted my mother’s love ran—that I could match the way that Matt and Nick felt.

***

_Matt_

Mattie was everything I had ever dreamed of and more. She smiled and I felt like my heart was going to explode. She cried and I thought my ribs would crack from the pain. The very moment I saw her, I fell in love in a way I never could have imagined. When I held her—so fragile and small, wrapped in a fluffy blanket—a fierce protectiveness took root in my chest. Mattie—my Tea—was the love of my life. As soon as she was born, that very second, I knew that I would lay down my life, I would take my last breath for her.

Those first few weeks were exhausting for all of us. We brought her home and almost immediately she got colic. Nick and I did what we could at night—walking the floors, singing lullabies, making rounds from my house to Nick’s and back again to get her to sleep. Nick’s Nissan took some miles from driving up and down the street to soothe her. We took turns, and I don’t think we were grateful in the moment of how much easier it was with three rather than two. But my brother and I knew one thing—Y/N had done the work of carrying and bringing our beautiful baby girl into the world, now it was our turn to carry the load.

My favorite thing was seeing Y/N with Mattie in her arms. They were my girls, my loves, everything in this world that was worth giving up everything.

_Nick_

Being a father was terrifying. In the days before Y/N went into labor, I spent a lot of time talking to our dad about what to expect. Sometimes those conversations were hard. It had taken a while before we could bring our parents around to the life Matt, Y/N, and I had chosen for ourselves. But with a baby on the way, Mom had come around. And where Mom went, so went Dad. And I don’t know what I would have done without those conversations.

When Mattie was born—good Lord, when the doctor put her into my arms—I cried like I’d never cried before. She was so perfect, even if she was red and screaming at the top of her lungs. I loved her the moment I knew she was coming, but there was nothing like that first glance of her. Our daughter immediately became the center of everything. And I knew just by looking at my brother, that we agreed—Mattie was ours and we loved her and her mother more than ourselves.

I don’t know how many nights that I pulled my wailing daughter from her crib and walked the hall with her bouncing in my arms. She watched late night Sports Center with me, and I decked her out with Clippers gear. I used to wrap her up in one of my t-shirts, and after a while it just became a security blanket. Mattie would sleep on my shoulder while I watched the game.

Every time I looked at my wife, I was amazed at how she had given us this beautiful little girl. I loved them both so desperately and completely that I knew that there was nothing I wouldn’t do for them.

***

The bed was empty when I woke up. It wasn’t odd for us to sleep in the same bed, me snuggled between the two of them, but it was strange for both of them to get up before me. Of course, now that Mattie was here our lives revolved around her schedule. I rolled out of bed and tiptoed down the hallway toward the nursery of Nick’s house.

In the months leading up to our daughter’s birth, I’d sketched out a wall of thorns, a castle, and a dragon. The boys painted and put together every piece of furniture they could. Of course, there were two Red Cherry rocking chairs—one in each house—from the front of the local Cracker Barrel. In Matt’s house, the nursery was mermaids, beaches, and underwater fish. The boys had picked out the themes, and I’d had fun putting my art degree to work.

When I saw the room was empty, I slipped into the living room to find my husbands and our daughter on the sofa. Mattie was tucked against Matt’s shoulder, bundled up in the Clippers shirt that had become her favorite blanket-drool-spit towel-teething ring. Nick was at his side, turned to face the little girl who had stolen his heart. He made faces at her, and she smiled.

My husbands must have been up very early since they were both wearing their glasses.

I leaned against the wall and watched them, wishing I had a camera. My heart thumped as I watched them with our daughter. They were completely enamored with her. It made my love for them grow so much that it hurt.

Matt saw me first. He smiled in that way he had—the smile that rounded his cheeks and squinted his eyes and showed off the dimples at the corner of his mouth—and held out his hand for me. “Morning, Mama,” he said happily.

I crossed the room and sat on his other side, curling my feet beneath me. He turned his head and kissed me softly. “Morning, Dada.”

Nick leaned over his brother’s lap to give me a kiss of his own. “Morning, Sunshine.”

I grinned. “Morning, Papa.”

The two of them looked at each other and made faces. “Ugh, I don’t like that,” Nick said, turning his attention back to Mattie. Matt held her out to sit on his lap. “You pick, my love. Who’s Papa?”

As if she understood their words perfectly, she looked between her two fathers. They watched her patiently. Mattie let out a little huff, as if she were thinking terribly hard, and leaned forward to put her head on Matt’s chest.

“I guess that settles it, then,” Matt said before dropping a kiss on her dark hair. “I’m Papa. You’re Dada.”

“That sounds better,” Nick agreed. He grinned widely—that smile that was like a kid cheesing for a picture—and leaned in to playfully munch on Mattie’s arm. She let out a squeal of laughter and retreated closer to Matt’s chest. “Where are you going, munchkin?”

Mattie squealed louder as Nick reached out for her, tickling her as he wriggled her from her Papa’s grasp. He bounced her up and down, going higher over his head each time. Every time he brought her back, he blew raspberries on her belly. _I could live the rest of my life in this moment,_ I thought.

“Oh, don’t churn her tummy up too much, Nick. I don’t want her spitting up all of her breakfast.”

At the sound of food, a pair of stomachs grumbled angrily. One of them was mine. The other was Matt’s. We looked at each other and broke into giggles.

“You get _her_ some breakfast and I’ll get _us_ set up with something to eat,” he said as he stood up. He kissed me on the forehead as he passed by.

Nick scooted closer and handed Mattie to me. I gathered her close and kissed her cheeks. She grinned and nuzzled against me. “Good morning, my darling,” I whispered. “Are you hungry?”

“Here.” Nick passed over Mattie’s nursing pillow. It had been a gift from Brandon Cutler and his wife at our baby shower. Brandon’s wife, Denise, was the one who made all the boys’ gear, and she’d outdone herself with her gift. It was a donut pillow done out in fabric that matched my favorite set of their gear—the bright colored paint splash—with the Elite logo right where her head rested.

I sat the pillow on my lap and settled Mattie into it. She grinned up at me as I adjusted her and pulled the side of my shirt up. It didn’t take long for her to latch on. I tucked my arm beneath her and rolled her a little closer.

Nick’s fingers brushed along my cheek and tucked my unruly morning hair behind my ear. He settled his chin on my shoulder as he continued stroking his fingers along my scalp. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured. “Both of you.”

“Even when it’s too in the morning and she’s squalling and I’m an exhausted zombie?” I joked.

He smiled a soft, sweet smile that made me warm inside. He stroked his thumb along my jaw. “Even then. _Especially_ then.”

“Midnight feedings when you look half-asleep and Mattie is looking at you like you’re the best thing in the world,” Matt called from the kitchen. “Those are my favorite.”

I sniffled, trying not to cry first thing in the morning. Nick pressed a kiss to my cheek just about the same time Matt came around the corner with a plate piled high with steaming scrambled eggs and toast. He handed the plate to Nick, who immediately held up the toast for me to take a bite. Not even a minute later, Matt reappeared with a little tray table and a mug of perfectly made coffee. Between the two of them, they set up my breakfast within reach and settled in on either side of me with their own food.

“What would I do without you two?” I asked around a bite of scrambled eggs and salsa.

Nick laughed. “You’d have far fewer headaches.”

“But not nearly as many laughs,” Matt teased.

They smiled and leaned in to kiss my cheeks. Mattie rustled and fussed. I sat her up slowly. Nick took our daughter and sat her on his lap, cradling her front and head with his hand, patting her gently on the back. Within a minute, Mattie had burped twice.

Her third burp brought up a little milk that ran straight over Nick’s bare hand. He looked up at me with a half-disgusted face. “Beautiful.”

I wiped the mess up with the burp towel and grinned. “Parenting is so glamorous.”

Nick propped our daughter in his lap, where she immediately started drooling and gnawing on his t-shirt. He shared a meaningful look with Matt.

“It is with you,” Matt said seriously. “And to be honest, I’m getting baby fever.”

“Me too,” Nick added.

I looked between the two of them, not even feigning the shock on my face. “She’s not even a year old!”

They looked at me sheepishly. “I know,” Matt replied. “But there’s something about seeing you pregnant…”

Nick watched me with his blue eyes going dark. “I don’t know how we controlled ourselves around you.”

I felt heat run over my face. “Well, you were on loops all the time.”

“That’s going to be different next time,” Matt promised.

“Next time?” I quirked a brow at him.

“Oh yeah,” Nick tossed in, “there’s going to be _lots_ of next times.”


End file.
